For now, I am in the period of such a “birth” that is what I call “creative exhaustion.” The following is a poem I wrote some 20 years ago after a similar period of creating.

Creative Exhaustion

I want to sleep – that deep,

ecstatic slumber that follows birth.

Resting secure in this realization:

momentum will carry me to a new dawn of creativity.

Germination. Assimilation. Completion.

Recycle. Out of rest arises renewed

vitality and newness of vision.

The eye of my co-creating knows the direction

and scans the horizon,

sensing the symmetry of Calling’s draw.

The green of growth and peace.

The color of vegetation’s response to

the Light of the Sun and the

stirring of life’s purposeful processes.

Movement creating waves in the web

of interconnectedness.

Swimming.

Supported by the waters of Life,

it is time to float for a moment and

allow the momentum of the current to

carry me…

Creative exhaustion is what we experience when we have completed creating something that took much focus, energy and passion as a Creator.

It is qualitatively different than burn out, which is what happens when we expend a lot of effort and energy toward something that does not hold heart and meaning for us; that really does not matter or make a difference; or that is merely reacting from a Victim Orientation.

As a Creator, welcome the experience of creative exhaustion. It means it is time for restoration – celebrating accomplishment and recharging the batteries.

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